Baker stable set to dominate Warwick Farm meet

A real touch of Saturday quality arrives at Monday’s holiday Warwick Farm meeting, and it’s no surprise who’s in the thick of the action.

Fresh from a dual Benchmark 94 strike at Saturday’s triple Group 1 meeting at Randwick, the local Bjorn Baker stable isn’t about to take its foot off the accelerator heading into the heart of spring.

Leading Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker.Credit: Getty Images

The trainer resumes some talented runners across a strong seven-race meeting, most notably with a dual assault on a Benchmark 100 Hcp over 1000m.

High class six-year-old mare Shezanalister hasn’t started since failing in a Listed race in early May.

Prior to that in autumn, though, she was beaten narrowly in a Group 3 sprint at Rosehill before being thrown in the deep end in Briasa’s Group 1 TJ Smith (1200m) win at Randwick over The Championships.

Shezanalister is a first-up specialist, having won four from five fresh, and was given two improving open class trials to prepare.

Drawn further out is talented stablemate Imperial Force who resumes off a similar break, and having won both lead-up trials in smart fashion.

Imperial Force has a 33 per cent winning strike rate from nine starts, and was placed at Group 2 level back in autumn.

The pair opened around $4.40 and $4.00 respectively in early markets behind smart four-year-old Zealously ($2.60) from the Peter Snowden yard also resuming behind two trials.

In the race prior – BM 72 Hcp over 1100m – the Baker camp resumes smart five-year-old Istolea Merc off two improving Rosehill trials.

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Already a three-time winner from seven starts, Istoleamerc opened around $6.00 behind early favourite Kilonova ($3.60) and Rantan ($4.70).

Yet the most exciting of his team could come in the last where lightly raced mare Our Queen will aim to put the touches on a Saturday start in a BM 72 Hcp over 1400m for the older gallopers.

Our Queen, who has embraced three official stable changes since debuting a little over a year ago, returned to racing with a bang, bolting in a similar race at Canterbury 19 days ago.

That was her first outing for the new Warwick Farm base since being transferred from the Glen Thompson stable.

Not surprisingly, Our Queen opened a dominant $1.80 favourite for this assignment over 1400m, well ahead of Verbil ($7.00) and Winston Hills ($8.50).

Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au

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